Welcome. You'll find comments and information here about education in Tennessee with a focus on Nashville as well other issues as I keep an eye on legislation and news. You'll quickly realize I'm a conservative Christian who isn't the quiet submissive type and doesn't mind rankling, if necessary, to get the job done.

Friday, August 04, 2006

I'm still here and intend to be for some time. I may be a short timer on the school board as a result of yesterday's voting but I'll make my last few weeks on it as productive as I can.

I'll go back to doing what I've been doing for some time now--wife, mom, education advocate, neighborhood advocate, part-time bookkeeper and blogger. We'll catch up on the laundry and finish painting the house. We'll get started on our own school year. I'll be watching the new school board with new insight and with complete freedom to speak my mind and call things as I see them.

One of the best parts of this whole endeavor has been getting connected and reconnected with neighbors and friends and receiving support from them in this effort. Money and volunteer efforts from regular working people are immeasurably valuable to me. Several have come away with a determination to stay involved and I consider that a wonderful return on my summer investment. You all picked up a piece of this effort and we could could not have given them the run for their money we did without your help. Thank you all.

And I don't want to fail to thank, again, those Metro Councilmen who were so concerned about the children in our school system that they dared to take a radical step and vote for my appointment.

Some have said, and will always say, that you put politics ahead of these children. The truth is exactly the opposite. You looked at the children in your districts and said it must change. You're still right. Stay the course. You have primed a pump, gentlemen. You have begun something that didn't come to fruition yesterday but will. Thank you.

I encourage you to stay involved as an education advocate,Kay.You are so very right in saying there is room for change.Metro schools are fairly ineffective,expensive,and have an air of arrogance about them.Much is the result of the lack of family involvement,but much more is the result of being politicized by opportunists from both ends of the spectrum.While I disagree with you on many points,I am smart enough to know that there are other opinions out there with value.A variety of opinions is what makes democracy work.Stay involved,it is your right,but more so it is your duty.

I watched one of the school board meetings on channel 3--my sense was that the other members were overtly hostile towards you, and treated your (sensible) questions about prioritization as symptoms of hopeless naivite. At any rate, they obviously rushed through the points you raised--and then sat through a long third-rate academic lecture on school system quality (I'm an academic--I can recognize third-rate). My impression is that the board doesn't want to discuss, doesn't want to improve, and isn't smart enough to allocate meeting time to the crucial topics. Tough luck that you didn't retain the position, but maybe you can be more effective as a blogger, on the outside...

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Tennessee Constitution

The state of Tennessee recognizes the inherent value of education and encourages its support. The General Assembly shall provide for the maintenance, support and eligibility standards of a system of free public schools. Article XI, Sec. 12